Would you want to live in a society that resembles the 1950s in America?

Some people (conservatives in particular) like to explain how awesome the 1950s were and how much they wish things would go back to what they used to be. So what do you think? If it was possible to have such a society in America tomorrow, would you want to live in it?

Here's a few important points for you as to what this society would look like:- Feminism is practically inexistent. Though women have the right vote in theory, they're discouraged from speaking about politics ("a lady doesn't talk about these things). Women consider their husband as boss/leader in the house and submit to him. As a woman you'd be staying home, caring for the kids and the house chores while your husband goes to work. Having children is very much encouraged by society but having them out of wedlock is considered shameful. Female sexuality is expected to be in the possession of the husband and only be practiced in marriage.- Society is still heavily segregated between black and white. This includes separate universities, separate stores and separate water fountains. - Homosexuality and Bisexuality are considered diseases. Straight people never have to worry that their children might hear about these things because they're so heavily stigmatized and sometimes, openly gay people are even killed. - Society is much more religious than it is today- At the same time, society is also much more coherent. Social pressures to behave well are still much higher and individualism less prevalent. - Society is much more economically equal than it is now. Rich people pay large amounts of taxes (up to 90%). The government uses this money to fund big projects such as the GI-bill that guarantees financial security to many lower and middle class folks. Though economic gaps do exist, they're much smaller. Everyone can buy a car or a nice house. Well, at least if you're white and a man.

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Non conforming people are picked on by the majority, there was groups such as greasers and nerds who had no social protection. Police violence was worse then today, and little or no oversite. Also there is the constant threat of Communism, and fear of nuclear oblivion. Socially men have a responsibility for all of the families expenses, and if he can not meet them then his entire family starves.

Many people look back with rose colored glasses. The 50's were probably one of the most socially repressive times for men and women. I certainly wouldn't want to go back.

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3mo

Communism is a good keyword. Intellectuals, teachers and journalists were also fired and in some cases prosecuted and imprisoned, simply for being suspected of having communist views.

Sounds similar to the way conservatives are ostracized on college campuses today with whether or not you support same-sex 'marriage' being the litmus test. Just look at the media's reaction to Trump and his supporters.

@JRICHARDS1996 How many college professors have been fired and/or imprisoned for campaigning against gay marriage? How many conservative authors or musicians have been visited by the federal police for speaking out against gay marriage? Seems like a very cynical comparison you're making there.

I don't understand you're comparison. Rape is completely unrelated here. We were discussing prosecution based on personal opinions (such as being a communist or being a conservative). Basically the government's refusal to grant its citizens the first amendment rights. I find it cynical to compare McCarthyism to today's circumstances on US campuses. It's an insult towards any intellectual, teacher, author, artist or politician who was degraded and imprisoned in the 1950s. Do you really think Sarah Palin or some conservative college professor would be sentenced to several years in a federal prison for saying "I'm against gay marriage"?

@JRICHARDS1996 But being bullied is not exactly the same as federal police officer bringing you to a court where you get sentenced to several years of prison. I think we can agree on that. Also, I feel sorry for the Dean of Harvard but one guy doesn't yet make it systematic. McCarthyism was systematic.

What Girls Said 20

Pros:Middle class had more power.The lack of immigrants from Asia made college what it should be and not so competitive.Society is much more economically liberalFeminism doesn't exist

Cons:Being bisexual I'd never explore that side of me. I'd probably never know I had that side of me to begin with though. But you need to get your facts right gays were executed only in Britain not in the US.Females don't have much working power

Ultimately it's the last point of females not having working power swayed me to the modern day but besides that the 50s were a better time. What people tend to forget is that bisexuality especially is brought upon this social stigma of everything being okay. We think after all if it's okay why not to experiment. Also for many people it was not even an idea then so they couldn't have Even thought of it or saw it as a mental illness. So that isn't that big of a problem

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3mo

I'm not talking about executions, I'm talking about lynchings. There were tons of gay lynchings in the 1950s. Also, Great Britain didn't execute people simply for being gay in the 1950s.

Alan Turing wasn't executed for being gay. He committed suicide by ingesting cyanide (alternative hypotheses suggest his death was an accident). Though he was convicted for indecency, his punishment was imprisonment and a hormonal therapy to reduce libido, not capital punishment. Great Britain wasn't Saudi Arabia as you seem to think.

He was forced to take hormones that did not allow him to do his work. His work meant everything to him. So by the British government forcing him to quit his work they basically killed his will to live. I have a few hypothesis on why they did that but will not share them here.

The American Eugenics Movement was in full swing during the 1930s and 1940s until the end of the Second World War. There were forcible sterilizations of homosexuals, the mentally disabled, and minorities. Alfred Kinsey, Madison Grant, Lothrop Stoddard, and Margaret Sanger--the founder of Planned Parenthood--were some key figures. In fact, we actually collaborated with the Germans before the start of the war, and it was the American IBM that helped orchestrate the Holocaust. Hitler was inspired by American Eugenics. We were pretty damn bad.

@JRICHARDS1996 Hell those were the gold old days. If only we still did that. At the least start sterilizing welfare recipients so they can't breed and make more welfare recipients. Make it a requirement to get food stamps instead of pay them more to have more kids then that black hole of a money pit would eventually go away.

Considering that my mum does not look white what so ever, my family would have problems in the neighbourhood. Despite me looking white I still probably wouldn't be accepted in society because of my mother, and I probably wouldn't be accepted by people of colour either because they'd see me as white.And really never mind about being a house wife, house chores back then was one hell of a workload (without all the dishwashing/clothes washing machines and all), plus I'd rather have a job I'm passionate about than do boring chores at home.

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3mo

Yes, that's a good point about the house chores I didn't even think about. My mom told me that when she was a child (late 1950s), her grandma would take her down to the nearby lake once a week, where my grandma filled a large wooden pot with water, put all the clothes in and scrubbed them on one of those old, wooden laundry boards. Afterwards they laid the clothes on the grass to dry a bit and then hung them up. That whole procedure would take the whole morning. No wonder my grandma employed a lady to do these kinda things once my grandparents were sort of well off financially. It's crazy how much easier things have become...

Sounds like she was just cheap. My grandma had an old electric washer that had a wringer on the back of it (you cranked that by had to squeeze the water out of clothes and pulled a plug on bottom to empty it). A friend sold it to her when the Depression was getting bad in the early 1930's (grandpa was a coal miner so kept his job). She used that thing for 45+ years before the motor bearing finally went out and forced her to get a Maytag in the 70's (I was 5-7 at the time so turned it into part of my playhouse I built out of junk in the backyard). They don't make things like they used to.

Really? Wow I can't believe how many people would rather live in the 50s vs now. I know it's only 21% but geez I was expecting like just one or two idiots. I usually don't take a firm stance on things but really? You guys want segregation? No rights for lgbt? A glass ceiling in every workplace besides a burlesque show? Fuck you people! seriously!

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3mo

Yeah, I was also quite shocked. I'm thinking about asking more of these controversial questions with polls just to see how many people would say yes to something if they don't have to openly admit to it...

@lovelywiz Someday you will be too! Believe me it will happen sooner than you think or expect too. You'll wake up on the morning of your 60th birthday and say WTF! How did I get here? Where did time go?

You can't have your cake and eat it too, especially if the economy functioned the way it did due in part to the social values of the day. I'll take the 1950's economy (lowest unemployment the country has ever seen: 2.5% in 1953) even if it meant going back to the old ways as well (racial segregation, lynchings, homosexuality still being being considered a disease and illegal, etc).

@fuqthegovt The economy doing well had nothing to do with any of these things. It had to do with world war two. And the fact that middle class Americans did better in those days had to do with the fact that there were more socialist elements and rich people couldn't just pick up all the wealth and fart into other people's faces.

thank you. @fuqthegovt there is nothing to suggest that the lack of civil rights 10s of millions of Americans lacked somehow benefitted the economy. the same scenario was present in the 1930s when the economy crashed so clearly we can't say that somehow access to Civil Rights destroyed our economy... the economy fluctuates for tons of reasons least of which being civil rights, racial harmony, etc

The 50s was about denial, keeping up a wholesome appearance that was a lie.

Teens still had sex and got pregnant, adults still went to swingers parties or had affairs, people were still gay or lesbian, interracial relationships still happened. People drank, did drugs, looked at porn, slept around.

Everyone knew it happened, but it wasn't talked about in polite company. Life wasn't Leave It To Beaver.

Men were EXPECTED to get married. EXPECTED to provide for a woman and kids. EXPECTED to sacrifice themselves in every way imaginable for said family. EXPECTED to line up to get sent off to die in other countries to enrich the banksters.

If a man didn't meet these expectations, he was denied employment, denied housing, shunned by society, perhaps even imprisoned on made-up charges or just killed outright.

Nowadays, I can remain single and child-free, spend my time and money how I want to, bang as many women as I want, and I won't be subjected to the same abuse that men in the 50's would. I'm not treated like there's something wrong with me since I don't want to get married; indeed, more and more men are figuring out that I made a smart decision to not fall into that trap again.

There's really nothing that the 50's, or a society that's like the 50's, has to offer me that I consider appealing. I don't give a fuck about society, so how cohesive it is means nothing to me.

Sure being a straight white male I could do ok for myself but the idea that there would be others that would be mistreated around me simply for the colour of their skin or sexual preference disgusts me.Plus my views on the role of women are that exact opposite of the patriarchal 1950s. I would want a strong confident woman with a decent job and not a girl that just says "yes sir" all the time.All these views could have me labelled as a communist especially since I don't believe in God.

No thanks. A visit would be interesting but to stay there would suck.That was literally the home of white privilege not the phony one SJWs think exists today.

Absolutely but with the sole exception of the segregation part. Racism is stupid though I agree that a common culture is important. Plus I'm a Mexican and I'm marrying a White woman no matter what the neocons tell me. I long for a return to a conservative society where I can have a family, take care of my wife, and practice my religion freely. No more political correctness, liberal insanity, sexual perversions, and destructive 'progressive' policies undermining the traditional family unit.

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3mo

In what way is your family unit threatened by gay marriage (I'm assuming that is what you mean by "sexual perversions")?

The 9 clowns of the Supreme Circus ring a bell? The pansies had to go whine to them to override everyone's state laws voted in by populer vote. So much for Democracy (which is a sham, can't wait until Trump declares the country bankrupt, maybe a real democracy will repalce it).

It's gross and I don't want to see or hear about the crap. I don't care if they want to have their dog pack their fudge, as long as they don't brag about it and describe the disgusting shit in detail in public. Ever notice gay clubs didn't get shot up with 50 of them dead even though being gay was technically legal for most of the late 70's onward when they stayed in the closet? People don't police others' bedrooms or give much of a shit until is practically shoved in their faces and back then they simply didn't brag about it nearly as much or flaunt it with their stupid parades. You would get similar responses from most people if pedophilia were re-legalized as well and they were hugging, kissing, and groping children in public even with the sexual acts just implied (assuming groups like NAMBLA got their way and had the aoc lowered back to 7-10 as it was in 1895 after protesting the APA until they declared it normal, basically what the fags did in 1973).

Ah right, so it's basically those gay people's fault they were shot. Wow... what a disgusting person you are. So I'm sure it's okay for me to visit you one night and kill you in your sleep cuz I find you disgusting. I'll just tell the police it was your fault. How dare you be so disgusting.

You are welcome to try (love the 2nd Amendment and have my own collection). And the police obviously won't buy that story anyway even if you succeeded. Other than that the moral of the story is stay in the closet and then people mostly don't care and obviously won't notice since most are not crazy and actively tracking and hunting them like animals. Come out at your own (significant) risk unless you live in some fag-friendly city like San Francisco. Then again Orlando is supposedly fag-friendly as well, but it didn't help much when it counted (some of the police were actually laughing about it on video in the background).

How about just not sticking your big nose into other people's business and simply not caring. Ironically, the most homophobic people on the planet are also the ones most obsessed with homosexuality. If that could mean something? Sane people just don't give a rat's ass.

And how many people do you expect to do this? All 320M Americans? It's just not gonna happen, probably ever. You might as well ask people to ignore public pedophilia even if that somehow were legalized (if homosexuality can go from outlawed to protected in just a few decades I wouldn't put it past the retards in DC with their convoluted logic).